forum Things You Want LESS Of In Books

Started January 21, 2019 by @HighPockets group

tune

People say that brown is a hard color to describe. Which is bullshit, but whatever.

I try to use stats with my characters, so say I have a main character with green eye's then 5 other charecters must have brown eye's before one can have blue or green.

Like seriously…..caramel, amber, hickory, whiskey, cedar, maple, chocolate, coffee, those are all brown things with positive connotations for eye color.

I try to use stats with my characters, so say I have a main character with green eye's then 5 other charecters must have brown eye's before one can have blue or green.

I just realized with the Fae story I'm working on that I had the idea for yesterday at 3 am but whatever there's only 2 characters with not-brown eyes. Vivian, Giana, Cedar, Iam, Maia, and Esther all have brown eyes, only Ophelia and Oleander have blue eyes.

Like seriously…..caramel, amber, hickory, whiskey, cedar, maple, chocolate, coffee, those are all brown things with positive connotations for eye color.

Exactly and depending on the lighting Brown eye's shift color, my mom's eye's appear to be a very deep brown but in direct sunlight they turn bright orange.

Like seriously…..caramel, amber, hickory, whiskey, cedar, maple, chocolate, coffee, those are all brown things with positive connotations for eye color.

Exactly and depending on the lighting Brown eye's shift color, my mom's eye's appear to be a very deep brown but in direct sunlight they turn bright orange.

That's one thing I love about brown eyes. In direct sunlight my eyes turn gold and at night in the moonlight they look more red. Brown is a color that shifts way more than all the others.

I have probably an equal amount of blue and brown eyes in my stories. I think I have about 15 characters with brown eyes in 1 universe? Give or take, because one I'm still deciding on the eye color of and the other has hazel eyes that generally are brown-ish, but I guess are just hazel.
And then for realistic fiction I have 8, but also a smaller cast.

Like seriously…..caramel, amber, hickory, whiskey, cedar, maple, chocolate, coffee, those are all brown things with positive connotations for eye color.

Exactly and depending on the lighting Brown eye's shift color, my mom's eye's appear to be a very deep brown but in direct sunlight they turn bright orange.

That's one thing I love about brown eyes. In direct sunlight my eyes turn gold and at night in the moonlight they look more red. Brown is a color that shifts way more than all the others.

Yeah, my eyes either look like a caramelly color or a really deep brown depending on the lighting/sunlight.

What do you mean by number 1?? Can you specify? Does it mean like no subtext, or like no effeminate men (for example) who are clearly supposed to be gay but never show interest in another man?

Yeah, what Starfast said. It needs to either be on-page or all-but-confirmed. For example, in a fantasy or dystopian where labels might not really exist so it would be confirmed by a character saying something like "Are you a man or a woman?" "Oh, I'm not either of those."
Or
"Who are you interested in?" "Not really anyone. You?"

oof i'm queer and writing a main queer relationship but it's subtext because my parents are homophobic so it can also be read as friendship

I despise the "Oh no! I lost my memories and now I have to go on a meaningless quest to find myself again and completely disregard a whole 'nother possible plot five times as better!" This is everywhere, fantasy, sci-fi, apocalyptic, STOP IT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

I despise the "Oh no! I lost my memories and now I have to go on a meaningless quest to find myself again and completely disregard a whole 'nother possible plot five times as better!" This is everywhere, fantasy, sci-fi, apocalyptic, STOP IT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

YES!
I do have an amnesiac character, but her quest isn't to 'find herself', she's already found herself, she just doesn't remember anything from below age 7. In fact, her quest is to aid her birth mother in retaking the throne. And she doesn't ever regain her memories which opens up a level of ambiguity that suggests maybe she isn't even the lost princess and really is just a random peasant girl, but I'm gonna remain quiet on that and watch the chaos.

I despise the "Oh no! I lost my memories and now I have to go on a meaningless quest to find myself again and completely disregard a whole 'nother possible plot five times as better!" This is everywhere, fantasy, sci-fi, apocalyptic, STOP IT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

IKR!!! Honestly why can't a character just deal with the lost memories for once!? Like, why can't they just replace those blank spots with new memories and go on with their lives? The only book where I have seen a character lose memories and just deal with it is Artemis Fowl.

I despise the "Oh no! I lost my memories and now I have to go on a meaningless quest to find myself again and completely disregard a whole 'nother possible plot five times as better!" This is everywhere, fantasy, sci-fi, apocalyptic, STOP IT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

YES!
I do have an amnesiac character, but her quest isn't to 'find herself', she's already found herself, she just doesn't remember anything from below age 7. In fact, her quest is to aid her birth mother in retaking the throne. And she doesn't ever regain her memories which opens up a level of ambiguity that suggests maybe she isn't even the lost princess and really is just a random peasant girl, but I'm gonna remain quiet on that and watch the chaos.

I saw a really cool book today about a living human bomb but all it had in there was about the mc being confused and going on a quest to find herself with a "best friend".
It's a story about a human bomb you could've done so much better! Like I didn't read it but from the way the author put it… just… ew… no… ("Nova by Margret Fortune" you can read the synopsis yourself…)

I'd really love it if authors would stop taking mystical creatures and turn them into cardboard bad boys with none of the weaknesses present in the original mythos, please.
Like, if your love interest is a vampire, they better not be waltzing around in the sun while munching on a glove of garlic.
If the love interest is a faery, they better not be wearing iron earrings and lying 24/7.

I think medieval fantasy needs to chill for a bit. I dislike medieval fantasy with a burning passion. Books like them are extremely hard to keep up with, shoving dragons and mystical creatures in your face ten seconds in. It's so cookie cutter, dragons, castles, kings, queens, the same story over and over.
They spend too much time worldbuilding then letting the readers get to know the character or vise-versa. It may just be personal preference, but I had to drop Eargon because of these issues. Either too much was happening or not enough. I've never had that issue with realistic fiction or dystopian. Also, Sci-fi has the same effect on me, and it's really hard to find books in both med-fantasy and sci-fi that don't drown or keep you from too much information.

So moral of the story, I think we need more urban fantasy or med-fantasy without the crap ton of witches and warlocks and shit.

I've never really been into urban fantasy/paranormal romance, but I agree. I feel like fantasy is very hit or miss _{I guess you never miss, huh?}

_{ya gotta boyfriend, i bet he doesnt kiss ya}

I'm glad someone else agrees with me.

_{ya gotta boyfriend, i bet he doesnt kiss ya}

I'm glad someone else agrees with me.

_Eyyyy!!!!

I feel like fantasy/urban fantasy/paranormal romance is very influenced by what's popular rn, and so you get good fantasy series and good urban fantasy and good paranormal romance, but also people who ride the popularity coattails and pump out books because they know 'hey vampires are what's selling now.'
Right now, fae are what's popular, and some fae books are really really good and some are really really not good.
Of course, it's also a matter of opinion on what makes something good, but still.

_{ya gotta boyfriend, i bet he doesnt kiss ya}

I'm glad someone else agrees with me.

_{He gonna find another girl and he won't miss ya}

Mhm.

_{ya gotta boyfriend, i bet he doesnt kiss ya}

I'm glad someone else agrees with me.

_Eyyyy!!!!

I feel like fantasy/urban fantasy/paranormal romance is very influenced by what's popular rn, and so you get good fantasy series and good urban fantasy and good paranormal romance, but also people who ride the popularity coattails and pump out books because they know 'hey vampires are what's selling now.'
Right now, fae are what's popular, and some fae books are really really good and some are really really not good.
Of course, it's also a matter of opinion on what makes something good, but still.

I really think authors should'nt make their stories off of what's hot and hip… Like it really drowns the passion in your own writing if you're not doing it for yourself as well. Passion in your own writing, in your own world, thats the real bestseller.

_{ya gotta boyfriend, i bet he doesnt kiss ya}

I'm glad someone else agrees with me.

_Eyyyy!!!!

I feel like fantasy/urban fantasy/paranormal romance is very influenced by what's popular rn, and so you get good fantasy series and good urban fantasy and good paranormal romance, but also people who ride the popularity coattails and pump out books because they know 'hey vampires are what's selling now.'
Right now, fae are what's popular, and some fae books are really really good and some are really really not good.
Of course, it's also a matter of opinion on what makes something good, but still.

I really think authors should'nt make their stories off of what's hot and hip… Like it really drowns the passion in your own writing if you're not doing it for yourself as well. Passion in your own writing, in your own world, thats the real bestseller.

ESPECIALLY right now in the contemporary genre where diverse books are gaining popularity. Some people just try to write diverse books for money/a chance at fame, it it shows.

_{ya gotta boyfriend, i bet he doesnt kiss ya}

I'm glad someone else agrees with me.

_Eyyyy!!!!

I feel like fantasy/urban fantasy/paranormal romance is very influenced by what's popular rn, and so you get good fantasy series and good urban fantasy and good paranormal romance, but also people who ride the popularity coattails and pump out books because they know 'hey vampires are what's selling now.'
Right now, fae are what's popular, and some fae books are really really good and some are really really not good.
Of course, it's also a matter of opinion on what makes something good, but still.

I really think authors should'nt make their stories off of what's hot and hip… Like it really drowns the passion in your own writing if you're not doing it for yourself as well. Passion in your own writing, in your own world, thats the real bestseller.

ESPECIALLY right now in the contemporary genre where diverse books are gaining popularity. Some people just try to write diverse books for money/a chance at fame, it it shows.

I believe if every person on this site who is planning to publish at least one book took on the ideology of "passion is the bestseller", the world's literature would change drastically.

_{ya gotta boyfriend, i bet he doesnt kiss ya}

I'm glad someone else agrees with me.

_Eyyyy!!!!

I feel like fantasy/urban fantasy/paranormal romance is very influenced by what's popular rn, and so you get good fantasy series and good urban fantasy and good paranormal romance, but also people who ride the popularity coattails and pump out books because they know 'hey vampires are what's selling now.'
Right now, fae are what's popular, and some fae books are really really good and some are really really not good.
Of course, it's also a matter of opinion on what makes something good, but still.

I really think authors should'nt make their stories off of what's hot and hip… Like it really drowns the passion in your own writing if you're not doing it for yourself as well. Passion in your own writing, in your own world, thats the real bestseller.

ESPECIALLY right now in the contemporary genre where diverse books are gaining popularity. Some people just try to write diverse books for money/a chance at fame, it it shows.

I believe if every person on this site who is planning to publish at least one book took on the ideology of "passion is the bestseller", the world's literature would change drastically.

I want to write because I can't stay sane and keep these stories in my head.

_{ya gotta boyfriend, i bet he doesnt kiss ya}

I'm glad someone else agrees with me.

_Eyyyy!!!!

I feel like fantasy/urban fantasy/paranormal romance is very influenced by what's popular rn, and so you get good fantasy series and good urban fantasy and good paranormal romance, but also people who ride the popularity coattails and pump out books because they know 'hey vampires are what's selling now.'
Right now, fae are what's popular, and some fae books are really really good and some are really really not good.
Of course, it's also a matter of opinion on what makes something good, but still.

I really think authors should'nt make their stories off of what's hot and hip… Like it really drowns the passion in your own writing if you're not doing it for yourself as well. Passion in your own writing, in your own world, thats the real bestseller.

ESPECIALLY right now in the contemporary genre where diverse books are gaining popularity. Some people just try to write diverse books for money/a chance at fame, it it shows.

I believe if every person on this site who is planning to publish at least one book took on the ideology of "passion is the bestseller", the world's literature would change drastically.

I want to write because I can't stay sane and keep these stories in my head.

Same tho. XD Mine may be something that no one would dare to touch but I'm passionate about my work.

Also:
The strong females only in YA trope needs to die.
Just stop. It has been so overused.